Matthew McConaughey Talks the Devil, The Dark Tower, and Guardians of the Galaxy

In his recent Playboy interview, Matthew McConaughey was asked why he turned down roles in the high-profile Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 films in favor of his role as the Man in Black in The Dark Tower. His answer seemed to be mostly about creative freedom.

“I like Guardians of the Galaxy,” said McConaughey, “but what I saw was ‘It’s successful, and now we’ve got room to make a colorful part for another big-name actor.’ I’d feel like an amendment. The Dark Tower script was well written, I like the director and his take on it, and I can be the creator, the author of the Man in Black—a.k.a. the Devil—in my version of this Stephen King novel.”

The Man in Black, alias Walter, alias Randall Flag, (this series is complicated), is Roland’s primary antagonist in King’s novels. Like Roland, he aims to reach and control the The Dark Tower.

McConaughey then continued in very McConaughey fashion, talking about the Devil and getting turned on. “We’ve done the first one. It’s a fantastic thriller that takes place in another realm, an alternate universe, but it’s very much grounded. For instance, the gunslinger’s weapon isn’t a lightsaber or something; it’s a pistol. I enjoyed approaching my character as if I were the Devil having a good time, getting turned on by exposing human hypocrisies wherever he finds them.”

McConaughey previously spoke about this approach with Entertainment Weekly. “They wanted to go very human and grounded with this,” he said, “Obviously there are mythical proportions of good and evil in Walter. But we didn’t want to go overly fantastic. That would drop the humanity. So Walter, for me, is a man who exposes hypocrisies…You know, he’s not literally the Devil, but I sure as hell think about him like the Devil. I think like the Devil would.”

I’m interested to see how McConaughey’s emphasis on the Man in Black as tempter will play with The Dark Tower‘s overall quest/race plot. The traditional Devil is really only interested in the soul, whereas the Man in Black also has a pretty concrete, megalomaniacal plan to reach that Tower.

How are you feeling about this adaptation so far? Let us know in the comments.